Steynian 444rd

Used Bookstore Browsings

~ HERE IN Binkiland, we’re lucky to have two or three very good used bookstores, and a reasonably well-read populace.

One recent grab was Paul Theroux’s The Pillars Of Hercules, a travelogue of the Mediterranean, from Gilbraltar all the way round to the other pillar. I didn’t know that I knew Theroux, but the film adaptation of his Mosquito Coast (with Harrison Ford) had spookily spoken to my circumstances then: a family member out of control; life turned into a tornado; everything shaped by the broken life of a loved one.

Pillars is a good read– he’s a cranky but observant sort, who likes seeing things off the tacky tourist track. He also read everything in sight before heading out, from droopy decadent Edwardians to ‘Grand Tour’ traveloguers of previous eras, all the way back to Johnson & Boswell.

I’m mid-book, and right now he’s in the desolate instep of Italy, visiting tiny ancient Calabrian towns (remember, according to the po-song Mambo Italiano, “All you Calabrese do the mambo like-a crazy”), in one of which Jewish anti-fascist author Carlo Levi was banished by Mussolini. His revenge? The famous book Christ Stopped at Eboli, later a 1979 film.

The best compliment I can pay this author is not that he inspires me to grab more of his books, but that he makes me want to read the books he’s digested and mentioned in passing– even books I’m not particularly interested in (cranky rich people, rascally royals, and aristocratic communists being bad and cranky in foreign towns). ~

~ I WATCHED AS MUCH OF the Leader’s “Debate” as my brain and eyes could stand. Harper was suitably robotic/ prime-ministerial. Blochead seemed a bit hyper.. and why is his accent as bad as ever after so many years in Ottawa?; Layton was capable but his head-wide hyper-orange TV make-up was very distracting, especially against a similarly coloured background; Prince Iggy just didn’t seem altogether there, and didn’t even talk about his platform.

Aside from optics, part of the problem with such an event is that uless you’re an Ottawa insider or an utter political junkie, much of what they were throwing back and forth just can’t be easily scruted. Leaked Auditor General Report? What Harper was like in his Reform Days? Dark rumours of a war on Canadian democracy? Normal Canuckis know zilch bout that.

This sort of stuff is pricey political theatre.

Oddly, Harper studiously avoided looking at the questioner or the moderater during the debate, but always answered to the camera. The other leaders spent a lot of time looking at Harper. By that measure, Harper won because he didn’t come across as desperate.

As I watched, as a blogger all I wanted to do was fact-check what the candidates were reading from their cue-cards.

Yes, Harper is a little royal and secretive and impatient and takes wrong-headed shortcuts in getting what he thinks should be done done. Does that mean the old Chretienites, the Socilaists, or the tax-teat Separatists will do a better job?

Yes, Tories know better than anybody the failings of the current PM– that means pressing him to do better, not switching captains.

None of his challengers landed a stunning or knockout blow: Harper seems to be cruising back to 24 Sussex, with the age-old question: minority or majority? As long as he doesn’t shoot himself in the foot, it’s a close call. ~

Paging Pete McKay!

~ THIS IS A WORD for Canucki Minister of War, Peter McKay: turn our current fleet of pre-enjoyed lemon subs into fish-reefs somewhere, and buy the new U-212A German eco fuel-cell boats. You know, subs we can use to actually fight wars, observe, snoop, do secret missions, that won’t catch on fire and kill people, or rust to bits, already being elderly in 1998 when we bought them– though not as elderly as the old post-war enlarged Oberon-class U-boats which served for Canucki subs into the 90’s.

Yes, I know they’re German. yes, I know the Hilterites massacred countless people using their U-Boat fleet. Remember: that included my Grandfather, at the time a Scots med student heading for the U.S. on The Spirit of Seattle, which was torpedoed by U-124.

Is that the point? By that argument, none of us should buy Toyota, Samsung, Sony, or.. well, hell, almost everything we buy. The point is our current fleet of ex-Victoria Class subs was old when we bought them, and in rotten shape, no thanks to the sleazy Brits, who didn’t let us know just how used and dangerous they were. The HMCS Chicoutimi, according to recent reports, won’t even be seaworthy again until 2012.

Canada’s Submarines! Providing Dockyard Work For Generations

New U-212A-class submarines like this (it can stay underwater for a month, like a Nuclear Sub) can do the North, can be actually useful overseas, be used to snoop and travel wuickly and quietly all over the world. Canada was ready for years to fight the Cold War.. now we need to be able to deal with soveriegnty, fishing zones, special ops, spying and supporting allied missions world-wide.

U-212 for the win! ~

P.S. Just saw Pete McKay at a local PC brekky meet-greet. Future PM material? Yup-yup. He and She-Binks were classmates back in the day. Seems like a guy keeping himself clean from the worst of Harperism. Plus, you should’ve seen the bodyguard: a real-life Titus Pullo from HBO’s Rome.

Dear old nature-loving recycling non-militarist matriarchal pagans were innocently celebrating Springtime, and in the case of the Celts, adoring fluffy Bunnies and yummy Eggs and worshipping the nurturing goddess Eostre. Then came the wrecking Christers, on the coattails of the bloodthirsty Romans.

Suddenly, widespread littering broke out for the first time ever. Women were told to shut up. Public sex at festivals was frowned upon. War-mongering became a popular habit. Lovely holy Eostre was relegated to the boonies. A dying man on a stick became the new God. It was all so horrible.

Fast Forward

Then, 1600 years later, the happy pagans broke out again– even though many of them had been Christians before, and wanted to tell every body about the good old days. They also had naked sex for church, and got to have a kind of mysterious rebel-cool. No matter that creepy old men had made it all up, and it didn’t bear any realtion to actual ancient paganism– they were The Real Thing, and everybody else were fakers, hypocrites, and stodgy thieves. Besides, sometimes church is boring, and the sermons are confusing, and Everybody Knows that Christians are bad and lame.

Earth Day? Mother Earth? Global warming? Gaia is crying? It’s a great thing, and will replace fake religions like Christianity.

Do You Suppose?

Jesus died sometime in early April, around AD30-33. Springtime, because that’s when the Jewish Passover happens– spring-lamb time.. and Bethlehem was one of the main suppliers of lambs for Temple sacrifice, for the washing away of sins. He died as the perfect Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, as the Prophets had foretold. He rose again from the dead on the Third Day, as spoken by the Prophets, and as he promised.

He made astonishing claims about himself: that he was the only Son of God (divine); that his death was the seal of a new covenant between humanity and God; that he was the promised one of the Old Testament, and the fulfillment of the hopes of the whole world. That he had the power to forvgive sins, give new names to people (a divine prerogative), and create a Kingdom that would be eternal. That he would die, and rise again.

Fulfilments

The claim of fulfilment is a basic one: grace perfects, but doesn’t destroy nature. Why would it be any surprise if the dreams and hopes and images of human aspiration towards God were not answered by God? Each of the ancient religions were different pathways up the mountain– Christianity claims that God let down a ladder from heaven to the mountain-top. In fact, that ladder was his own Son.

Easter– properly known as Pascha before the spread of the faith into pagan Celtic lands– is the fulfilment of all things, and a foretaste of heaven. The resurrection of Jesus is the true new beginning and rebirth of life. One might say that Springtime itself is an image of the resurrection.

Spit & Mud-Slinging

That media and nerdy neopagans and the chattering classes like to bash Jesus, Christians, and Christianity with the same old tropes shows that their ‘reasons’ are too often excuses for hatred, 18th and 19th century pseudo-intellectualism, and selling magazines and articles at Christmas and Easter-time.

Jesus lives, or not; Jesus rules, or not; Jesus is Lord, or not. The destiny of each soul, and of civilizations hangs on that either/or. THAT, perhaps, is why sophisticated elites hate him– he’s too black and white, like sin, death, and hell. He was not a preacher of infinite shades of comfortable grey.

To all our readers out there– Happy Easter; a Blessed Pascha; a Joyful Resurrection Day. ~

Being Like Unto Teh Binky, Part # 20 198

~ FOR ALL OF YOU seeking to fashion your lives, tastes, thoughts, and style like unto Teh Binky’s, Jeff Lynne’s ELO apparently snuck into my head and recorded my happy-thoughts, and turned them into “Mr.Blue Sky”. It’/s pretty much the inside of my head on happy days, along with a dose of Mornin’ by Al Jarreau.. and Walk Of Life by Dire Straits.

As I’ve noted before, it’s strange that the gatekeepers of music & film & pop culture keep cannibalizing the Boomer years for revisits to the well of inspiration. Only thing: the well is dry, and those years were inspired by generations of other stuff, back to opera, Vaudeville, poetry, country, Gospel, folk songs, and a wide variety of music and other sources of inspiration. Formulaic regurgitation of past success and amusement is mere spooning up of vomit from a previous good meal.

Ultimately, the answer is turning and returning unto “O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new” [St. Augustine, Conf. X]. Equally, the new and infinite life of Christ The God-man poured out on the Cross.. and bursts forth from the broken tomb in everlasting power– here is the redeeming outward and inward life which makes all things new. Equally– for our elderly Western culture, the quiet disappearance of children in many communities takes away that restless energy, hope, childlike and childish energy. We are burying ourselves, with barren wombs and empy playgrounds.

Boring Old Originality

The paradox is that seeking to be original becomes stale-dated, and things of abiding worth and memorability seek to just be themselves, and rightly serve the muses. Remember back before Mel Gibson or George Lucas were rich old jokes? Lucas bucked the studio system, made great movies, invented THX, and re-invented special effects. Mel Gibson helped create ‘a look’ with Mad Max, then bullhorned his now classic movies like Braveheart and The Passion Of The Christ past the Hollywood formula-boys, and again helped to make a mark in culture and the world: re-igniting Scots nationailism and history, and seeing the Gospel afresh (if with a little too much gory Mel-ism).

Yes, Teh Binks is past the point of ‘keeping current’ with pop-music, but the Binklings are living it. Thankfully, we’re past the monomaniacal “bitches ‘n’ hos” hi-hop. I just kept repeating “Find out where this music comes from– country, rock, classicla, jazz, blues, older rap music, all of it.” They have begun that journey, thankfully. They even rock out now and again to the 80’s soundtrack of Chris Rock’s semi-autobiographical TV-comedy “Everybody Hates Chris”, or the kicking tunes on “Malcolm In The Middle” (for which they’re still fighting with the artists, which is why there’s no Season 2-7 DVDs yet).

Perhaps it’s a fogey’s rant, but so much of the music of the 60-early 90s abides musically. I just find Katy Perry and The Black Eyed Pees and the emo bands forgettable and tired. Heck, I’d even rather watch glam-rockers KISS than much of MUCH Music in 2011.. especially since they actually support the troops and tend to be conservative/ libertarian in their views. Hey you kids, get offa my lawn! ~

Oh My Freezing Assets

~ LIKE POLITICS, all weather is local. So your Winter, fellow Northern hemispheriacs, may have been different.

But all Global WarmingClimate ChangeHumans Are A Virus politicized climate-crap aside, this Winter was effing cold, hugely snowy, and Spring has been cold, frostly, late, and the trees have yet to blossom even slightly.

Yes, the el Nino gave is the old heck in 1998, and we had Hurricane Katrina, and some damned warm Autumns. This year, 13 years later, we had 4 feet of snow. A cold Fall, snowy Winter, a lame Spring.

Meanwhile, theY yatter about greenhouse gasses, classroom indoctrination, petty rules and laws, and political chit-chat continues, though (a) the science is ever more uncertain, (b) whether humans are causing/ influencing anything, (c) the anecdotal evidence is mixed. The simple fact is that the climate always changes– the earth has been warmer and colder in the past and will be in the future. Though the Third and Second world is getting more polluted (it’s called economic and industrial development), the First world is much less pollutive than in the 60s and 70s.. and all the post-60s Leftist apocalyptical ‘panics’ on every topic from salt and eggs down to ice-cubes.

~ TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT— “As we approach Easter, we once again confront the central fact of human history, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, something a “Christian” named Steve McSwain, who describes himself as a “speaker, thinker, inter-faith activist and spiritual teacher,” wants nothing to do with” …. (themcj.com)

FreeSpeechers

~ JUST MAKING SHITE UP— And Evil Babs Rejoiced: “Under the new Dalton McGuinty provisions, the Ontario Human Rights Commission no longer intends to wait for a complaint to be registered. The OHRC itself takes the initiative, and starts the witch hunt” …. (lifesite)

~ WAR ON EASTER— “Well, it appears we have our first Easter ‘ban’. Father Hugh MacKenzie, of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church in Willesden has been told he and his congregation may not march on Good Friday along a 400-yard route, as they have done every Easter for 13 years, because Brent Council say it breaches health and safety regulations” …. (archbishop-cranmer.blog)

~ WRITES ONE COMMENTATOR: “Members of an ethnic group who represent one side in a civil war — of which I have no idea who are the good guys and who are the bad guys — are numerous enough here to constitute a political presence” …. (theglobeandmail)

~ A NUMBER of Facebook users in Quebec tried to begin a class action against FB for alleged infringements on their privacy …. (slaw.ca)

~ THE BABY WARS— The exchange between Shestack and Sarah Flood-Beaubrun of St. Lucia points up an irony at the UN. On the one side are rich countries demanding poor countries reduce their fertility rates, and on the other, the poor countries saying they need higher fertility rates for not just development, but survival …. (merecomments)

~ BACK WHEN EUGENICS WAS FUN! Mike Flynn has an amazing little piece of cultural archaeology up on his site from the days before Eugenics was actually put into practice on a national charnel house scale …. (markshea.blog)

~ PERSECUTED FOR HIS CROSS: British electrician told he faces the sack for Christian symbol on his van dashboard …. (dailymail.co.uk)

~ AN OXYMORONIC description in the way they mean it. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people already have full equality in the Church and are called to holiness and chastity just as every single other person in the Church …. (splendoroftruth)

~ AS A PHARMACIST of 25 years currently working in hospital pharmacy– I can tell you that the drug shortages are ongoing, dire, and in some cases life-threatening …. (SDA)

~ MERE WORDS— Obama’s Emptily Cynical Speech Was Just About Propping Up His Support on the Left …. (ace.mu.nu)

~ DICTATING IS EASY; “Leading is Hard They were happier times. Headier times. President Barack Obama and his Democrats held strong majorities in both the House and Senate. Dreams of “fundamentally transforming the United States of America” were at hand.” …. (townhall.com)

~ COLOR BY NUMBERS— Jay Cost unlocks the secret of how to attack a policy problem, Barack Obama-style …. (spectator.org)

~ JOHNNIE BOEHNER last week: the budget deal “eliminates the salaries and expenses of the “czars”’ — Boehner this week: “It’s not surprising that the White House . . . is objecting to eliminating them” …. (weaselzippers)

~ FAREED ZAKARIA Shows He Is Still A Dishonest Liberal Tool …. (ace.mu.nu)

~ YOU CAN SLAUGHTER Christians, But You Can’t Burn a Koran, By Doug Giles …. (boldcolors)

~ IT ALL MAKES SENSE.. “I knew the Jews were behind the hearings. A monkey is a representation of who the Jews are,” said Barnette, in explaining why she chose the beloved children’s storybook character as a symbol …. (cv)

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